Full circle: A GSE Intergenerational Mentoring Story

While working on her Ph.D. in literacy education at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education (GSE), Catherine Rand found support from her mother, Dr. Muriel Rand, a professor at New Jersey City University and her mother’s long-time mentor, Dr. Lesley Mandel Morrow, a distinguished professor and director of the GSE Center for Literacy Development.

In the early 1990s, Muriel rolled her stroller with 15-month-old baby Catherine into Lesley’s office. She was working on her dissertation for the doctoral program she was matriculated in at the GSE and seeking academic advice from her long-time mentor. She was also a graduate school teaching assistant teaching early childhood and literary classes at night to support herself. Lesley was a department chair for the GSE.  

It was an exciting time, Muriel said, full of change, especially with the advancement of technology. 

This was before today’s “home” computers. Conducting research was a hands-on process. When Lesley and Muriel researched various subjects at the library, the information was read through “punched cards” or IBM cards. These were paper cards with holes punched by hand or machine to represent computer data and instructions. Muriel stored them in her freezer for safe keeping.  

Not long after, Google and other search engines became mainstream and the ability to have information at one’s fingertips changed forever. Today, baby Catherine is grown up. She pursued her career in education and conducted her graduate research studies online. 

Following in her mother’s footsteps as an educator, Catherine taught as a fifth-grade reading interventionist for language arts in the Bound Brook School District. She focused on helping struggling language learners. 

But Catherine was not always certain about her career journey. Originally, she double majored in art history and visual arts at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts and later earned a master’s degree in filmmaking.  

While working on film sets in California–primarily with adults—Catherine realized she missed the joy of working with children. She returned home to the east coast and earned certificates in English Language Arts (ELA) Elementary and ELA Middle School.  

“I wanted to go back to graduate school, do more research, educate teachers, and have a broader effect on schools and kids outside of my classroom,” Catherine said. “I approached Lesley before I decided to apply to schools because I wanted to learn more about the Ed.D. program at the GSE.”  

After being a mentor, colleague, and friend to Catherine’s mom for years, Dr. Morrow jumped at the opportunity to mentor Catherine and support her through graduate school.  

“I was truly honored when Catherine reached out,” Lesley said. “Working together was a beautiful chance to continue mentoring a former mentee’s daughter.”  

Having achieved her Ph.D., Dr. Catherine Rand now works as an adjunct professor at New Jersey City University – the same university as her mother. 

“Dr. Morrow has been such a foundational figure in education and research. It’s what I want to achieve,” Catherine said. 

Working in early childhood education, there was pressure to be more academic, which Muriel and Lesley did not agree with. They had a similar focus on the benefits of “play” in early childhood education. Keeping play as part of the student curriculum was a shared cause.  Muriel’s dissertation – while pregnant with Catherine – involved play intervention with preschoolers to see if it helped them better understand stories. It did.  

Lesley’s philosophy was to “never give up” and “keep working on it” even when faced with high rejection rates in academic journals for their research. 

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Muriel and Lesley published an article on the academic benefits of literacy and play. The International Literacy Association had put out a call for articles about the science of reading. Lesley reached out to Muriel to write one on play. There were fall and spring issues completely devoted to the topic. The article appeared in the spring issue of Reading Research Quarterly. 

“I think we revised it six times and almost quit,” Lesley said. “They had a 95% rejection rate which made the moment when we found out our article was accepted unbelievably special.” 

The trio still works together to this day. In September, they presented at the Center for Literacy Development’s 2024-2025 Speaker Series “Exploring the New ELA NJ Standards with Evidenced-Based Strategies.” The session focused on the changes in New Jersey Standards in Literacy and what they mean for practice.  

Visit the Center for Literacy Development website to learn more about news and upcoming events, like the 2024-2025 Speaker Series.